Turtle Dove appeal
Turtle Doves aren’t just for Christmas – but their numbers have plummeted by almost 99% since the 1960s. We need your help to save their gentle, purring song.
Priority Species Spotlight: Turtle Dove
Find out why Turtle Doves are in trouble, and the work we’re doing to help them.
Conservation Status:UK Red List(Birds of Conservation Concern), IUCN Globally Threatened (Vulnerable).
UK population status:Stabilisingafter a long period of decline in the UK.
Main threats to UK Turtle Doves:Lack of suitable breeding habitat,availability of seed food, and unsustainable hunting on migration.
Get to know Turtle Doves
You’re most likely to have heard of Turtle Doves offered as a gift in the ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ from the writer’s true love! But you’re much less likely to have seen one, as they’re not only rare but now concentrated in southern and eastern England, with groups of breeding birds as far north as North Yorkshire.
Turtle Doves are small, dainty doves – and Europe’s only migratory dove species. They migrate around 3,000 miles annually each way between the UK and West Africa, travelling via France and Iberia. Other more common dove species, such as Collared Doves and Woodpigeons, stay in the UK all year round.
Until recently, they were also the UK’s fastest-declining bird, with a 99% decline in abundance since the 1960s. Populations in other countries, including Belgium and Germany, have suffered declines on a similar scale. But there are now some small, positive signs of recovery.
Why are Turtle Doves in trouble?
In the UK, the big threat to Turtle Doves breeding here is a lack of suitable food. That’s because they’re specific about what they like to eat. They rely on small seeds from low-growing flowering plants. Sadly, increased intensification of farming methods has meant that there are far fewer wildflowers producing these suitable seeds for them to feed on.
They’re also specific about what’s needed for nesting. They need tall, dense thorny scrub, plus accessible fresh water nearby. These must be within close range of the seed food sources, especially for newly fledged chicks, as they don’t travel far from the nest for several weeks.
In addition, until recently, unsustainable levels of hunting along the western European migration route, in France, Spain and Portugal, were also affecting Turtle Dove numbers. But thanks to international co-operation and a science-led approach, a sustainable hunting management system has been in place from 2021; since which numbers in Spain have started to recover rapidly.
How is the RSPB helping Turtle Doves?
The RSPB leads Operation Turtle Dove, a partnership project with Natural England, Pensthorpe Conservation Trust, and Fair to Nature. Operation Turtle Dove’s advisers collaborate with farmers, land managers, communities, and volunteers to help them create ideal Turtle Dove habitat across the southeast and east of England.
When birds return to England to breed, we want to ensure they’re able to breed successfully, so we work with farmers to advise them to create the best-quality habitat. This includes: foraging plots of open, sparsely vegetated ground, with a variety of low-growing wildflowers; tall, wide and dense scrub and hedgerows for nesting; and ponds, ditches, and puddles for them to drink from.
We also encourage farmers in priority areas to join the Operation Turtle Dove supplementary feeding programme, as a temporary measure to help Turtle Doves when natural wildflower seeds are not available.
As well as working with Operation Turtle Dove, the RSPB conducts research. We’ve fitted satellite and radio tags to individual Turtle Doves, which has helped us gain a good understanding of their migration routes. We’ve also tested various seed mixes to work out which combination of foods is best for them. This means we can give the best possible feeding advice to farmers and landowners.
Along the migration route, we collaborate on our research and conservation work with other organisations. In Senegal, we work with the BirdLife Partner Nature-Communautés-Développement (NCD) extensively, including on a current Darwin-funded project to set them up for future conservation success. Alongside NCD and other partners, we’ve also set up a master’s course in Ornithology and Conservation, to train the next generation of French-speaking bird researchers in West Africa. This will support the protection of migratory species like Turtle Doves right along their migration route.
The good news is that we know what Turtle Doves need, and the population in Western Europe is starting to recover.
Is there anything I can do to help Turtle Doves?
Every time you donate to the RSPB, whether that’s a one-off donation or a regular membership subscription, you’re supporting our work to help Turtle Doves thrive once more.
If you’re lucky enough to see a Turtle Dove, please log your sighting on BirdTrack. That means we target our Turtle Dove work in the most effective way. For the latest Operation Turtle Dove news, see the website.
If you’re a farmer or land manager, you can play a role in providing Turtle Doves with suitable habitat. If you’re located in East Anglia or southeast England we can provide support and advice through one of our local Operation Turtle Dove advisers.
Taking species on a journey to recovery
Helping species to reach a healthy conservation status is a journey. Each journey is tailored to the species in question, but shares four stages:
1. DiagnosisIdentifying there's a problem, and researching to find out what's causing it
2. Testing solutionsDeveloping practical solutions and trialling them to make sure they work
3. RecoveryProviding these solutions across the whole range of the species
4. Long-term legacyReaching improved conservation status and securing a long-term legacy for the species’ recovery
Testing solutions
Our work to help Turtle Doves is at the ‘Testing solutions’ stage of the recovery curve. During this stage, we identify which conservation actions help a species to recover. The solutions appear to be working, with positive signs of recovery in the Western European population. We just need to ensure we work together to keep it up!
Find out more
- Discover our work with Operation Turtle Dove
- Turtle Dove bird facts page
- Find out our conservation advice for farmers
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Turtle Dove appeal
Turtle Doves aren’t just for Christmas – but their numbers have plummeted by almost 99% since the 1960s. We need your help to save their gentle, purring song.
Thank you!
Thank you so much for supporting the RSPB, so that our vital work for Turtle Doves can continue. We’d like to thank Natural England, Pensthorpe Conservation Trust, Fair to Nature and Tesco for supporting this valuable work.